


Are You Jealous Yet?

by shelovestoship



Category: Magnum P.I. (TV 2018)
Genre: But I'm gonna use that to write this, F/M, Higgy being a tease, Higgy getting a little OOC..., I blame the promo though, I'm not sure it really deserves the mature rating, It feels very out of character as I'm writing it, Magnum being a bit... well, What is going on with Higgy in that promo? I'm shook, but it's fun, but maybe?, confident?, i'm not sure what it is, or something
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-18 20:20:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 10,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29249409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shelovestoship/pseuds/shelovestoship
Summary: So, the 3.08 promo made me write this.Ethan is convinced Magnum is in love with Juliet. Juliet decides to test the theory with PDA and some other interesting techniques…
Relationships: Juliet Higgins/Ethan Shah, Juliet Higgins/Thomas Sullivan Magnum IV, miggy - Relationship
Comments: 113
Kudos: 181





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I decided if there is going to be "PDA Juliet" there is going to have be a Miggy reason for it... 
> 
> I mean that promo is either A) a dream (I don’t think so but maybe?) B) Cut that way to make us go OMG WUT??? C) Juliet Higgins having suddenly totally changed her personality and become a PDA person D) ???
> 
> Also, Rick is meant to be us, the viewers, right? ("I just threw up a little in my mouth").

## ONE

“Magnum is in love with you,” Ethan said as he watched her dress. 

“What?” She felt her head snap up.

“Just a little bit.” Ethan held up his thumb and forefinger to demonstrate the amount. “I wasn’t sure you knew, but I figured you did because it’s kind of obvious. You didn't?”

“He’s not,” she protested because that was preposterous. Magnum was not in love with _her_. 

Ethan sat up a little more on the bed. “He is. You really didn’t know?”

“He isn’t in love with me, and even if he was, it wouldn’t matter,” she said, zipping her jeans up, wondering if that was true. Would it matter? Her increasing heartbeat made her worry it might. “I’m with you.”

Ethan smiled. “I know. And he knows that too.”

“Then why bring it up?” She asked, sitting on the edge of the bed. “It doesn't matter one way or another. And he’s not in love with me.”

“He is,” Ethan said, brushing some hair from her face. “But he knows…”

“Knows what?” She frowned, pulling back when Ethan leaned forward to kiss her.

“That…you’re way out of his league?” He shrugged.

She put a hand on his chest, stopping him and even pushing him back a little.

Magnum was one of the best men she’d ever known. Ethan’s statement made her want to make that totally clear to him. That Magnum was fantastic. Whoever he ended up with... he'd be loyal and true and love her with everything he had. Go to the end of the world for her. Not just that, he was charming and good at women. If anyone was out of anyone league, it was her. Yet, she wasn’t sure she could say that. Explain it right. Because Ethan had just insisted - no matter how wrong he was - that Magnum was in love with her. Her coming to his defense might not be the smartest move this early in her relationship with Ethan. He might think _she_ had feelings for Magnum.

“Okay, that came out wrong,” Ethan said, either meaning it or reading on her face that she was offended for her friend. “Thomas is a good guy. I’m just saying he understands the two of you, that wouldn’t really work long term.”

She stood and went to get her shirt and unable to stop herself asked, “Why not?”

Ethan chuckled. “You know why. He likes baseball and beer and playing games on his phone. He makes no plans, saves no money and lives in Robin Master’s guest house. That’s not the future you want.”

She swallowed and made herself smile. Because that was kind of true. Yet… 

“It doesn't matter,” she said, “Magnum has no feelings other than friendship for me.”

“You’re wrong,” Ethan said, so sure, she began to wonder. “Just pay attention and you’ll see.”

“I gotta go.” She didn’t go over to the bed to kiss him goodbye. “Call you later.”

She left Ethan's house but as she did his words rang in her head.

_Just pay attention and you’ll see._

Maybe she would.

Just to prove him wrong.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> #sluttyHigginsalter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is this remotely in character for Higgy? Probably not. 
> 
> But I'm having a good time...

## TWO

_Just pay attention and you’ll see,_ Ethan had said.

Against her better judgment, she had. 

Except Juliet wasn’t good at just waiting and seeing. Besides, if Magnum had feelings for her, he’d been hiding them well enough over the past… well however long he’d had them.

So something else was in order.

A plan. A test. Or a few of them.

Because she’d become consumed with wanting to know. She _needed_ to know. 

Even though it didn’t matter if Magnum had feelings for her. Shouldn’t matter. 

She was with Ethan. What he had said wasn’t wrong. What she wanted for her future wasn’t what Magnum was offering. So if he had feelings for her _shouldn’t_ matter. 

Yet it somehow did. She _needed_ to know. Burned with a desire to.

* * *

“Would you help me put sunscreen on my back?” she asked, a few days later when he got out of the water and came over to where she was reading under a sun umbrella.

He looked… skeptical. Not excited or like she figured a guy who’d just been offered a chance to put his hands all over a woman he was interested in.

See! Ethan was wrong.

“Why? You’ve been putting it on yourself for years,” he said, sitting down in the sand. 

“My shoulder is a little sore from that guy we took down yesterday,” she lied, realizing he was right to be suspicious. She’d never asked him to help her before. 

“Yeah? Did you have Ethan take a look when you saw him?” he asked, concern flashing across his face. Which meant nothing. He’d always been concerned when she was hurt. When his friends were.

She gave him the tube of sunscreen. “He said it was nothing. That I’ll be fine in a day or two.”

Magnum swallowed and nodded before she turned and offered him her back. A little shiver, despite the hot midday sun, went through her as he brushed lightly over her shoulder blades.

For some reason she imagined him leaning forward and kissing her neck. She’d be able to smell the slightest bit of aftershave he wore. It was something subtle and she rarely got a good sniff of it, but whatever it was, it was nice.

She took a deep breath and told herself to stop it. What he smelled like didn’t matter. She should not be wanting to smell him.

She was with Ethan.

_(Who always smelled vaguely like antimicrobial soap, which reminded her of all the unpleasant times she’d spent in hospitals around the world.)_

“More,” she sighed when his hands stopped brushing over her skin. Then quickly added, “You need to use more sunscreen.”

“Right,” he said, and she wondered if his voice was just a little bit huskier than normal. “It’s a wonder you even got any color with how much of this stuff you use.”

“Excuse me for not wanting to get skin cancer,” she said, glad for the talking. The talking, the bickering, distracted her from how good his hands felt sliding over her skin.

“You know there have been studies linking excessive sunscreen usage to hormone disruption,” he said, and she wondered why he knew this. Unlike her, he rarely used sunscreen. Could he have done it because he was worried about her? “And it might be damaging the coral reefs.”

“I know that,” she said, “That’s why I use an oxybenzone free and zinc oxide-based one. Safe for the ocean and fewer chemicals.”

“Right, of course, you do,” he said, giving her supposedly hurt shoulder a very gentle stroke, before declaring, “done.”

She turned and tried to read his face. If her little stunt to get him to touch her had caused any emotions to stir in him. But he just looked basically at her the way he always did. “Thanks.”

“What partners are for, right?!” He gave her a little wink, but as she started to turn away, his expression fell a little.

If not for that, she might have concluded Ethan was wrong. But that look. She’d seen it once or twice before. It meant something wasn’t quite right.

So, she persisted.

Wore clothes that she might have normally reserved for a date or night out. Stepped a little closer, leaned against him and spoke softer to force him to come closer.

But even though there were some looks she couldn’t quite decide what they meant she didn’t think they could actually mean Thomas Magnum was in love with her. 

Kicking it up a notch, she invited Ethan to poker night. And made sure to act like the queen of PDA. All the while, she couldn’t help but look at him. Because it was all for him. To get a reaction. And she did. She just wasn’t sure if it truly meant what she wanted...not that she wanted him to have feelings for her.

Or maybe just a small bit of her did.

She tried to tell herself it was because it would be a fair turn around. Because he’d been so dismissive about the idea of her ever having a boyfriend. Teased her about never having dated as a teenager. Occasionally even made her feel like she, maybe, really was too much of an odd duck out to find someone even if she tried.

It wasn’t about her actually wanting him to want her. Just that it would be good for him to learn his lesson. Yeah, that was it.

Still, even with making out with Ethan in front of the whole gang, she couldn’t quite decide if Ethan had been right or if she had been.

Did Magnum have feelings for her or not?

And why was she so desperate to know?


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Juliet has a brilliant (see-through) idea...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we're very much veering into "out of character" behaviour for Juliet in this chapter!

## THREE

The night after the poker game she lay awake, plotting just how to discover the truth, what she might do...wondering where to draw the line.

How desperate was she to know?

How far could she push it?

What if she was right and Ethan wrong? 

Perhaps Magnum didn’t have any romantic feelings towards her. That was what she’d thought before Ethan brought it up. That had been just over a week ago.

Yet the more she’d pondered the question...the more she’d wanted it to be true. Suspected it was. Hoped even. For some stupid reason.

Because those looks he gave her, the looks she thought were normal. Thought he gave everyone...well, she’d begun to notice he didn’t actually give them to anyone but _her_.

But that didn’t mean anything, did it?

She remembered the text she’d sent him by accident when she meant to text Ethan that day in the car. 

What if she did that again? 

But with something else… something that was bound to cause a reaction.

From what he did, she’d know how he felt. She was sure.

Her hands trembling she went to her underwear drawer and pushed the everyday, useful and boring bras aside. Found a white sheer lace one. A red velvet and satin one. A black one with green bows.

Debating for a moment, she went with the white one. The other two, while sexy, didn’t reveal more than what a bikini might. And he’d seen her in swimsuits plenty of times. 

The white one was so sheer it was almost not there.

She was both proud and a little embarrassed to admit she’d gotten to the age of thirty-four without taking a risque almost naked picture of herself, so it took a few tries before she got something she thought might be acceptable.

The picture she settled on was from the wais tup, her hair was artfully messy and she was doing the best sexy pouty face she could manage without feeling silly. She’d even gone and put some eye makeup back on despite it being the middle of the night.

She imagined if she was sending this to Ethan it wouldn’t be as terrifying. As thrilling. Because Ethan had seen her naked already. Magnum hadn’t.

Her finger hovered over the send button on her phone.

Only... no way could she send her business partner and friend a picture of herself with a sultry expression, wearing only an almost invisible bra! 

Then again… breasts were just breasts. So what if the pink tips of her nipples were visible through the fabric? It wasn’t unless you truly looked closely at the picture you really noticed.

If he wasn’t attracted to her, he wouldn’t look that close. Right?

Or would he? She wasn’t sure how men reacted to getting naked pictures sent to them. She sure wouldn’t look at an unsolicited picture of a naked man longer than she had to. 

For god’s sake! She couldn’t send Magnum an almost naked picture. It wouldn’t accomplish anything…

But maybe it would. 

Maybe it would get some reaction from him. And she was desperate for that.

“Bloody hell,” she muttered and then in a moment of temporary insanity she pushed _‘send’_. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I’ve totally just gone off the deep end and now both our babies have gone OOC. I have no excuse. Other than Magnum is kinda drunk and...???

## FOUR

Sometimes the reaction you expect is almost what you get...and yet it’s somehow still unexpected.

She’d only just about exchanged the sexy lace bra for a loose tank top she liked to sleep in and gotten rid of the make-up and was seriously considering hacking into Magnum’s phone to get the picture she’d just sent, off his phone before he woke up when she heard the door to Robin’s Nest open downstairs.

Security system went off.

Then quieted a second later after he’d punched the code.

 _You wanted a reaction_ , she told herself.

It seemed she was about to get one.

Swallowing hard she reached for her robe, feeling completely idiotic about it. Because she was wearing plenty more now than in that picture.

Maybe she could blame it all on the half a bottle of red she’d finished off while working on putting a file together for their client this evening. Yeah.

No.

A tiny bit maybe?

Not one to just sit and face whatever was coming, she went out of her bedroom and over to the landing, to watch him come up.

She didn’t say a word as he did reach the top of the landing. Just went back inside her room, leaving the door open. Even though the house was empty, whatever discussion they were about to have, out there wasn’t where she wanted it to go down.

“Did you break up with Ethan,” he asked as he walked into the room behind her.

“No?” she said, still keeping her back to him. “Why would I have?”

“You know why,” he said, frustration in his voice. “Geesh Juliet what are you doing? What am I doing?”

“I’m not doing anything,” she said innocently, turning around.

“Aren’t you?” he asked, not sounding like himself at all. “Then why is there a naked picture of you on my phone?”

“I-I-no...Obviously, I meant for that to go to Ethan,” she said, trying to make it believable. “Why would I send you a- I assume you deleted it?”

“I will.” He swallowed. “Tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” She raised an eyebrow.

“This is not a good idea.” He took a step towards her. “Tell me to leave. I’ve had too much beer for this to end well.”

“You seem perfectly fine to me,” she said, but stepped back, keeping the distance between them.

As much as she wanted to play with fire, she didn’t want to get burned.

“Yeah?” he asked, smiling darkly.

“Did you look at the picture?” she asked, having to know. Even though she thought she might know the answer. Maybe even to more than just the question she’d just asked.

“I did.”

“And?” She jutted her chin out, wanting to make him apologize. Even if it was all her doing. 

“I thought your nipples would be brown,” he said, eyes dropping down to her chest, his thoughts clearly going in the complete opposite direction of what she’d thought. Wanted. Expected.

How many beers had he said he’d had? Too many? How many were that? 

“You thought about my...” Why did that excite her rather than make her want to strangle him?

“Not as much as about where that damned tattoo I’m not sure you even have might be located.” With a dangerous smile he added, “I guess I can exclude upper body now. As I’ve seen all of it.”

“By mistake,” she said quickly. “And I do have a tattoo.”

“So you say.” She wasn’t sure which statement he was mocking; the tattoo or her having ‘accidentally’ sent him that picture. “I’ve never seen the slightest sign of one.”

“I told you-”

“Where it is, I never will?” he said darkly. “I remember...”

“Some things at least.” 

He continued, ignoring her words. “...and I don’t believe you.”

“Alright,” she said because she’d already done something that blurred the lines tonight. 

And she couldn’t resist proving him wrong.

His eyes dropped to the loose tie on her robe as she reached for it.

“Juliet.” His hand shot out, stopping her. “Think very carefully about what you do next.”

“Thomas Magnum, telling me to think before acting?” she said softly, breathily, sarcastically.

He let go of her hand, for a second she thought she saw hurt flash in his dark eyes but then the hungry look came back.

“Go on them,” he said, leaning back on his heels. “Show me this tattoo of yours.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can't wait to see what we actually get tomorrow with PDA Higgy...


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ....she was more excited - thrilled - than she could remember being for a long time. Including her time with Ethan. That was not a good sign, was it?...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this took some time because you know me… a scaredy-cat about writing anything even smut-adjacent. 

## FIVE

She’d gotten the tattoo just after starting uni. At that time it had seemed a brilliant idea. Later she’d felt rather foolish about it. It was a rather cliché of a thing; a bird with its wings spread. A symbol of her sudden freedom.

Still, she remembered how edgy she’d felt, going to the tattoo studio, tugging already low riding jeans even lower. She’d not been quite so daring, despite it all, as to put it somewhere people might see. It had to be easily covered by underwear and swimsuit bottoms alike, so an inward hip tattoo had been what she ended up with.

“Juliet Higgins chicking out?” he said, with amusement in his voice at her slowness.

“No,” she said and slid her robe open. Except for maybe part of her was regretting it; wanted to back out. Yet… she was also more excited - thrilled - than she could remember being for a long time. Including her time with Ethan.

That was not a good sign was it?

Pulse hammering away like she was in the midst of a marathon, she slid the robe off her shoulders. She was beyond glad she’d switched to the white tank top rather than see-through lace bra. Even if he had seen it on her, a photo was not the same as real life.

“I believe you,” he said, once more stopping her hand as she reached for the left side of her hipsters. “You don’t have to prove anything-”

“I know I don’t _have to_ ,” she said, not sure how her voice was so calm when she felt almost out of breath. _But maybe I want to?_

As if he could read her thoughts, he let go of her, she slid the left side of her underwear down to expose the little tattoo. Technically nothing in indecent was showing… yet she felt a prickly hot blush rise over her chest and cheeks.

He held her eyes for a long moment. So long was it she thought he might not even look.

But he did, his eyes trailing down her body and then coming to rest on her left hip.

“It’s a bird,” she told him as his eyes stayed glued to the tattoo. Wanting to clarify. Because it wasn’t very big. And he was studying it as intently as if it was the Mona Lisa.

“Is it?” he said, eyes meeting hers again. “I think I need a better look”

And before she could do or say anything - well, maybe she could have - he knelt down, putting his eyes at the level with her tattoo - amongst other things.

“It looks more like a butterfly to me.” He put a hand on her hip, brushing over the tattoo. “Did you get a butterfly tattoo Higgy?”

“It’s not a-” but then he did something that made her completely lose her train of thought.

He leaned forward and _licked_ the tattoo, his tongue trailing quickly across her skin making warmth bloom out from the spot. It trailed all over her making her feel like a fever had suddenly overtaken her while simultaneously making her tingle all over. How had he done that?

“I didn’t say you could do that,” she managed, now truly feeling out of breath for no reason. Well...there was a reason, but she wasn’t going to acknowledge it.

“Then what have you been saying?” he asked, stood and stepped back. “This past week? What’s it been all about? This little stunt?”

“I haven't’-”

“Don’t lie to me Juliet,” he said, not hardly, but definitely with a tone that was more demanding than any he’d just with her before.

“Ethan...” She decided to just come out with it. Because it was all Ethan’s fault that way. Sort of. At least a bit. “Ethan said...he thought. He foolishly believes you have feelings for me.”

“Ahhh.” He smiled and raised an eyebrow. “And you thought all this would what? Make me jealous? I can’t believe you’d do that!” 

“Perhaps it was a little foolish of me,” she admitted, not sure how they’d gone from his tongue trailing across her skin to _this_ in less than a minute. “I just wanted to… make sure.”

“Well.” He took a step closer to her. “I’m not jealous of Ethan.”

“Oh?” 

Why did him saying that hurt so much? It was better this way, really.

“Ask me why.” His voice had that edge back.

“Why?” She met his eyes. So dark and so different than she was used to him looking at her.

“Because he’s irrelevant. He’ll be gone soon. A month, two, five. It doesn't matter. He won’t last. Want to know why?”

“Yes Magnum,” she said, trying to sound snarky but she really wanted to know why he thought so, and wasn’t sure she managed it. “Why?”

“Because your boyfriend got it all wrong.” He smirked. “It’s not me that’s in love with you. It’s you that’s in love with me. You just have no idea how to deal with it. That’s what this was all about. So you see. I have no reason to be jealous of Ethan. You’re already mine.” 

She opened her mouth to tell him he was crazy. But no words came out.

He grinned even wider. “Speechless are we?”

“You’ve gone completely mad,” she told him, backing up until the back of her legs hit the bed. “Now get out of my room.”

He chuckled but he did do as she’d asked and left.

As soon as the door closed and she was alone, she all but collapsed onto the bed. He was crazy. She was not in love with him.

That was preposterous.

Only… the memory of his tongue trailing across her skin, her reaction to it. The way she’d felt all night, all last week, trying to get him to...react. Maybe it had caused more things to stir inside of her than him?

Reflecting back further she thought about the way she always wanted his attention. Had since the start. In bad or good ways. How she claimed he annoyed her but she wouldn't, couldn’t, leave him alone. 

That terrifying still unnamed feeling him proposing they get married for a green card had caused. Switching to TC. 

Even dating Ethan… who, if she was being honest, was like the dollar store version of Magnum in looks. 

Even her desperate desire to know it Magnum had feelings for her….

Could it mean…

Was _she_ in love with _him_?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel kind of silly writing them so wildly OOC especially with the amazing ending moment of 3.08... still, we're on this path now so I guess we're just going to keep going down it!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She didn’t tell him about breaking up with Ethan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So my brain is a little bit fried, both because I have an exam tomorrow and because I decided today would be a super excellent day to bleach-bath the pink out of my hair and boy is bleach some strong stuff and apparently my weak-ass brain can't handle it. 
> 
> But I think this came out rather well (if somewhat less action than one might want.) Hopefully, I'll still think that in a few days once my brain is fully back online!

## SIX

She broke up with Ethan.

Not because she was in love with Magnum. But because…

She wasn’t quite sure. He was Mr. Perfect. He was a nice, attractive, smart and successful guy. She shouldn’t have ended it. Yet she had. 

Maybe he just wasn’t her Mr. Perfect?

(Or maybe Mr. Perfect was overrated?)

Either way, after what had gone down the other night she hadn’t been able to look him in the eyes. More because of her reaction to it than what had actually gone down. 

Because even if she absolutely was **_not_** in love with Thomas Magnum, she might be a little bit… in lust with him?

That made more sense. She could handle that. It let her explain why she’d been acting like she had been.

She’d stopped with that. The overly smiley and flirty and weirdly plunging necklines and tight jeans shorts. No more asking for help with sunscreen or reaching for something she didn't need at La Marianna just to brush against him. Because she didn’t want Magnum to get any ideas…

That was also why she didn’t tell him about breaking up with Ethan.

Plus, would make him smug. And he was already smug enough. Even though neither one of them had mentioned the whole picture and tattoo night, she could almost feel it every time his mind drifted to it.

The nerve of him!

Saying she was in love with _him._ Not the other way around. 

Did that mean he actually didn’t have feelings for her? It had kind of sounded a little like that. But he had said he wasn’t jealous of her relationship with Ethan because she was already in love with him.

Made it sound like he thought it was just a matter of time until- until what? 

They'd get together?

He had said Ethan had it wrong. That he _wasn’t_ in love with her. Then again, he had been the one that _licked_ her tattoo. Clearly, he had some interest in her beyond friendship.

For god’s sake, you didn’t go around licking people. Just thinking about it made her furious and a little trembly. It was totally unacceptable.

So was the things she’d done in the shower thinking about it. Gods, she really was in trouble.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked as he handed her a box of takeout.

“I’m just wondering if you managed to get my order right this time,” she said snarkily. Because she couldn’t tell him she’d been thinking about the feeling of his tongue on her skin...

“I told you I didn’t mess it up, the restaurant did!” he protested.

“Oh very typical of you, blaming your mistake on someone else,” she said, but found that when she looked inside the box and found each piece of sushi exactly as requested. 

“Typical? Really? When have I ever blamed someone else for something I did wrong?” he asked.

“Oh I don’t know.” She reached for the chopsticks and thought about it for a long second, trying to find a really good example. But being honest Magnum more often blamed himself for other people’s mistakes than blamed others for his. At least when it came to the serious ones. “How about that time you broke that Ming Dynasty vase and tried to convince me it was Apollo that did it?”

“It was him! That dog has the grace of a turtle on dry land.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. He had not just insulted Apollo!

To her surprise, he smiled and weirdly enough said, “I like your dress.”

“What?” she said, looking down at the off-white and green dress she’d put on that morning. She didn’t much like it, it buttoned up all the way to her throat with tiny buttons and had weird ruffles at the bottom.

“It’s nice,” he said, grabbing his sushi and heading for the terras.

“Are you trying to distract me with compliments Magnum?” she said, following. “I’m not one of those airheads you like to date, you can’t just attempt to change the subject.”

“I’m just being honest,” he said and then surprised her by adding, “Those buttons are going to be a nightmare for however is unbuttoning them, though.”

It wasn’t so much his words though, as the _look_. Something about it made her weirdly sure he would very much like to be the one doing the unbuttoning.

And that made her mind immediately flash to him actually attempting it, how frustrated he’d be and how she’d tell him if he ripped her dress- and then before she could finish the threat - he already had.

“I’m sure Ethan will manage,” she managed because it seemed a good way to make him turn back to normal Magnum. Not this… hungry one. Not one that made her suddenly disturbing active imagination run wild.

“I’m sure he will,” he said, still smiling as he sat at the terras table. 

She was about to do the same but stopped and stepped closer to him. Because that was she’d been expected. He was way to amused and relaxed as he said it. Like he _knew_ it was not happening.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You know.” He didn’t even look up from his take-out box, which he’d just opened.

“I really don’t.”

He sighed. “You broke up with Ethan four days ago.”

He sounded almost bothered by this. As if he hadn’t wanted her to do that. Even though he must have? Kind of?

Juliet had never been one to feel confused by someone else’s possible feelings. 

Mostly because she’d always made sure to keep what each person was and what they felt for her and she for them in a neat little box. This had been especially useful when she’d been a spy. It mostly worked nicely in her everyday life as well.

Except for Magnum, who had started in her ‘nuisance’ box. For a long time he’d been there. Then she’d been forced to move him to ‘reluctantly ally’ and then to ‘friend’ and ‘partner’. But now he was somehow in the ‘friend whom I’m terrifyingly attracted to’. A box she didn’t want him in.

Yet, she did. But she also didn’t want to be alone in the feelings she was suddenly experiencing. Was that foolish? That for some reason… she wanted to be sure he wanted her? How strange the human mind, the hormones and feelings, were. She didn’t want to want him. Still the idea of him not feeling the same terrified her?

"I just remembered, I-I- I have a phone call." She stepped back, deciding she needed some time away from him and these confusing emotions, and turned to leave.

“Wait, Higgy!”

But she didn’t wait, she marched out of the guest house and up to the main house. 

She expected him to follow her. But when five minutes had passed, and he hadn’t, she felt strangely like crying.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe I was

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gosh I'm sleepy today. Exams are exausting even when easy! Also this story has taken a bit of a detour from where I oringally inteded to take it but I'm sure it'll be fine in the end.

## SEVEN

“What did that beer ever do to you?” Rick asked.

“Huh?” she said as he sat down in the booth across from her and she managed to take her eyes off Magnum.

Who was sitting with a much too young blonde woman with pink highlights in her hair. They were talking and smiling and giggling. Well the blonde was.

“Ahh, not the beer,” Rick said, following to where she’d been looking. “You good?”

“I’m fine,” she said, maybe just a little too quickly. 

“You sure? You kind of look upset.”

Then Magnum pointed her way. Not in a ‘come here’ sort of way for Juliet her. Just like he was telling the blonde ‘that’s Higgy, my business partner, she’s just sitting over there all on her own’.

“I’m not.” Except Rick was here now so she wasn't all alone...

“Uhuh,” Rick said and then got up. She realized she’d probably been kind of rude, but it was mostly Magnum’s fault for… for what? Flirting with someone else? There was no rule that said he couldn’t do that.

Much to her surprise, the blonde with the pink highlights leaned over and gave Magnum a kiss on the cheek just then, before she scooted out of the booth and walked off.

He immediately got up and came to join her.

Juliet pointedly looked at her beer bottle. He said nothing. She said nothing.

It was rather like what she’d imagined middle school had been like for most girls. Sitting across from the boy you liked (but maybe also wanted to smack for being so annoying) and not saying a word.

“Are you just going to keep ignoring me for forever?” he asked.

“I’m not ignoring you!”

“I thought we had a conversation about being honest. And we both agreed we would be.”

“I’m being honest.” She finally looked at him. “And for your information...”

“Yes?”

“I didn’t break up with Ethan because of you,” she finally said.

“Course you didn’t,” he said, surprising her by sounding sincere. “But you **did** break up with him!?! Right?”

“I thought you were the all-knowing one out of the two of us,” she said, still focused on her screen. “My feelings, my boyfriend-”

“Location of your tattoo.”

She managed to ignore that and the feelings him just saying the word ‘tattoo’ did to her, she snapped, “Well you’re not much of a love expert after all. Pink girl didn’t seem to want to get further acquainted.”

That made him smile wide. “She actually did. But I told her I was your ride. Want to know what she said to that?”

“No?” 

She did.

Way too much.

“Cassie said you looked like an adorable angry kitten staring her down.” He smiled as he said it.

“An angry kitten?” she said, offended. She did not look anything like a kitten and that a twenty-something with pink highlights named Cassie would have the audacity to imply it was insulting. “And I was not looking.” 

“You know for a spy, you’re a terrible liar,” he said, then got back up again. She kind of worried he’d go look for the blonde again. But instead, he came to her side of the booth and held out his hand. “Dace?”

They’d never done that before. Dance. At least not to the kind of dancing the current ‘sway and hold each other close’ song that was playing.

She should say no. If she was going to get Magnum back into his ‘friend and nothing else’ box. But she didn't want to say no.

“If you step on my toes-”

“You will strangle me?” he suggested as he pulled her to him, one hand on her hip. She wasn’t sure where she should put hers, but one just ended up on his bicep and the other above his heart.

“Possibly,” she said, wondering why she’d never really noticed just how nice he smelled. And how she’d stop herself from sniffing him. “Did you get her number?”

“What?” he asked, looking down at her.

“Cassie?”

“Oh? Yeah? Yes.”

She looked away and they swayed and she wondered what it was like to be Thomas Magnum. It must be a lot easier than being Juliet Higgins. He was just charming and nice in a way she’d never quite managed. 

“You going to go out with her?” 

“No.” She found herself meeting his eyes again, wondering what that meant. 

“That’s probably a good idea,” she managed. ”As immature as you are sometimes I do beleive a twenty-two-year-old who giggles at everything would bore you.”

“You think?” he said as he slid his fingers up her arm and brushed some of her unruly hair back behind her ear. 

She actually wasn’t thinking much at all.

“Yes?”

“I don’t know,” he said softly, leaning down the tiniest bit. “She seemed like the kind of person willing to take a chance, think outside of the box. Brave.”

“Based on what? Her hair color choices? I could dye my hair pink tomorrow but it won’t change who I am.”

“But you won’t,” he pointed out. “So it does say something about her. About you too.”

She didn’t like that. Neither him comparing her to Cassie somehow or the possibility that he was right. 

“It doesn't-”

“But it does,” he said and stopped moving. “You feel something for me-”

“I don’t-” She stepped back.

“Fine!” He narrowed his eyes. “You don’t have feelings for me. But you do _want_ me.” She opened her mouth to deny it. But said nothing. Because that was true. “Yet you’re not doing nothing about it.”

“What do you want me to do? Sing you a ballad?” She stepped back. “Besides, I don’t see you doing anything to make our situation less awkward.”

“I was quite sure you didn’t want me to,” he said, voice a little louder, drawing some nearby people’s eyes.

“Well, maybe you were wrong,” she said, crossing her arms over her weirdly heaving chest.

“Maybe I was,” he said slowly after taking her in for a few long moments. “ _Maybe I was_.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Traffic safety? I never met her…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I haven’t watched any of the sneak peeks but just from my brief scrolling through tumblr I’m even more excited for 3.09 then I was when the promo dropped. Also the consensus there seems to ‘we need a bloody hug at the end’ and I can’t think of anything I really want more!
> 
> Note for traffic safety + beers in this: I’m not a drinker and here in Sweden any amount of alcohol in your blood = DUI. But from what I understand having one beer and driving is like a normal thing in America? Like the limit is .08 percent (however much that is)? Not sure what the rules are for distracting touching though...

## EIGHT

For a long moment, she thought he’d kiss her, right there on the dance floor of La Mariana. With Rick and TC and even the giggling Cassie watching. He didn’t. 

Of course, he didn’t.

Still, he gave her that same intense look, the kind that made her think of his tongue sliding against her skin, the scent of him and the wolfish smile he’d given her _that_ night. 

He reached for her wrist. “Come on.”

She didn’t ask where they were going. She knew and even if she hadn’t she would maybe not have cared. 

Her brain should be shouting at her to stop and just not do this. But apparently, it was agreeing with her flustered body that it just wanted more of whatever this thing with Magnum was.

Still, even with that, some vague voice in the far corner of her mind warned her ' _you can’t ever put a genie back in the bottle'_.

She told it to shut up. 

Once they got to the car, he stopped and faced her. "I wish you were wearing the dress with all the buttons."

"I'm kind of glad I'm not," she said, looking up at him, swallowing hard as their eyes met and he moved in closer.

He cupped her face, brushed his thumb over her lip. Leaned down a little, but not all the way. She narrowed her eyes. He kept just looking at her, like he was trying to memorize her. Which seemed a rather strange thing to do at that moment, at least to her.

She sighed because it seemed unless she made a move he might keep staring forever.

Softly she brushed her lips against his lightly. Not tentatively even though she was just a little bit worried at making the first move. But honestly...she'd already sent him a naked picture of herself... this was not that, a brush but nothing too demanding. Just in case he'd changed his mind and that was what all the staring was about.

But, he hadn't. Clearly, he'd wanted to kiss her, judging by the way he pulled her to him. Do more than that. Even with how strange things had been between them since that night since their little sushi-conversation the other day... She was sure he was at least her friend and at least attracted to her. Whatever else this meant to him, she'd figure that out later. Tomorrow. Next week.

Magnum wasn't happy with soft for long though and quickly turned the kiss into something that was making her whole body shiver with delight. She found herself clinging onto him in a way she didn't think she would, digging her nails into his right elbow and pushing closer as he began nibbling her neck instead.

The kiss affected her more than she felt it should.

So much it made her worried he may even have been right the other night.

Maybe she wasn't just in _lust_ maybe she was in love wit him.

Because it wasn't just the thrill of his touch or feel of him. It was her heart that wanted this too. As much as the heart - which really was only a muscle - could want something. She wanted this with him... because as impossibly different they were, they were also the same. It seemed that if she was being honest, Magnum was everything she actually wanted...while Ethan had been what she maybe wanted to want.

Someone whistled and shouted something and they pulled apart a bit. Because this was not the place for where this was going. Not at all.

She slid one hand down his back and then lower, where she (after just the tiniest squeeze) extracted the Ferrari's keys from his back pocket, before quickly stepping out of his arms.

"What was that-?"

“I’m driving," she said, dangling the keys. Mostly she'd taken the keys because she needed that little bit of control after the realization she had sort of just had about her feelings for him.

“Yeah?” He looked momentarily like he might want to argue the point.

“You’ve had almost two beers. I’ve only had two sips,” she pointed out, even though she knew he wouldn’t drive if he was actually feeling those. 

He tilted his head and his lip twitched. “Safety first.”

As she got in, she pondered the fact that last time he’d been this… _friendly_ with her, he’d also been drinking. But that night he’d said it himself. That he was too drunk. Tonight she didn’t want to think it was a factor. 

They got in the car, suddenly filled with the joint purpose of going back to Robin's Nest and finishing what they'd just begun in La Mariana's parking lot.

“You taking Pali?” he asked as she made a turn out of the road.

“Yes?” She raised an eyebrow, daring him to argue.

He didn’t but instead put his hand on her right knee, just where the hem of her skirt was. 

She couldn’t stop herself from glancing over at him.

“Eyes on the road,” he said, as he began moving his pinky finger up and down the inside of her knee. “Safety first, right?”

Safety first? 

How did he figure distracting her like that was promoting traffic safety?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short but...um sweet? I just wanted to post this because I got quite the busy weekend scheduled and might not have time to write and that last cliffhanger was just a little cruel to leave you with... this one is slightly less crule, right? (Or is it just as bad?*woops*)


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She didn’t crash the Ferrari.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I thought I was going to be busy finishing an assignment today but I can apparently not read because it’s due next Sunday! So I’ve got this chapter done today!
> 
> Do SATs have vocabulary sections? They do in this story!

##  NINE

She didn’t crash the Ferrari.

Which she considered quite the feat as Magnum’s hand just kept moving just the tiniest bit upwards with each passing mile. All the while his fingers kept trailing little patterns along the inside of her leg. 

“If you move your hand one more millimeter higer I’m going to kill you,” she promised once they finally reached Robin’s Nest’s gate. By this point she was quite frankly so worked up she actually maybe wanted him to go higher. She wasn’t sure it’d take much more than a few seconds, which was crazy. When had she become a horney, easily turned on teenager that just wanted to be touched!?!

But smiling smugly, as if he knew exactly what she was thinking and wanted to torture her, he slid his hand away from her upper thigh. “Come on now, you spent a week teasing me. I haven’t even started and you’re already threatening me with bodily violence?”

She drove through the gate, pressing her teeth together. “That was not...”

She couldn’t say that wasn’t true. She had kind of done that. But it was mostly Ethan's fault. Okay... it wasn't but still. 

“Don’t worry,” he said as she parked. “I have no plans to tease you for a week. An hour...maybe?”

“An hour?” They both got out of the car. She slid her hand along the hood as she came to meet him in front of it. “An hour from now you’re going to be begging me to-”

She didn’t get to finish her threat because he snatched her to him and kissed her. Just being pressed against him again made every tense and desperate feeling from the car ride come back to her. She felt almost shaky with it.

“Guesthouse,” she managed once she got a chance to draw a breath.

“You sure you don’t want to christen the hood of the Ferrari?” He suggested teasingly. Except the devilish look in his eye made her wonder…

“We will not be doing anything on top of a 250,000$ motorcar! Honestly Magnum!” She turned, grabbing hold of his wrist, to make sure he came along. Or maybe just to not lose contact with him. It felt like if she let him go, he might float away and she’d wake up alone and this would all have been a dream.

As soon as they were inside the guesthouse it was her turn to grab and kiss him, pushing him against the door. While she moved on to nibble along his jaw, then gently (well, maybe not  _ that  _ gently) bit his earlobe, he slid his hand down her leg and picked up her leg before lifting and spinning her around so she was pressed against the door instead. He smelled so good and his hands trailing over her made the wanting inside of her stronger by the second. Why did it have to be like this? So freaking good? No way could she walk away from this. Maybe it would go downhill from here? It'd get awkward and they'd both end up doing something to turn the other one of. It could happen, right?

“Maybe it’s good you didn’t wear the dress with the buttons after all,” he said, sliding the soft fabric of her dress to the side to reveal her bra. Stupid day to wear a bra! If she'd known, she'd not have, just to have been able to feel his fingers brush against her just then. “I don’t think I’d have had the patience for it.”

“Told you,” she said, because even though she didn’t feel coherent enough to argue with him right then. She wanted him to keep touching her, wanted more kisses and nibbling and… everything. She just plain old wanted. “Now take me upstairs or I swear, I will bite you!”

“I think you already did,” he pointed out, touching his earlobe. 

She rolled her eyes at him before picked her up and just as she’d asked, took her upstairs.

* * *

“That was...” She sighed, curling her toes, unable to keep a smile off her face as he leaned his forehead against her shoulder, letting out a long breath. “...rather amazing.”

In fact, the  _ rather  _ was just there to make sure he didn’t get that smug look he’d been sporting lately. A look that he probably deserved to wear. 

Because how did he know just how to do everything she liked and some things she didn’t even know she (apparently) did like? On the first try? That just seemed strange and almost unfair. But in a good way?

“It was.” He agreed, rolling off her. “So why do you sound disappointed?” 

“Do I?

"Kinda?"

"I didn't mean to. I just..."

He frowned and he sat up slightly, sudden realization on his face. “Wait! You wanted it to be bad!?!?”

She hadn’t. Not really. Perhaps just the tiniest bit.

“I didn’t.” She too sat, not sure how he could be so worked up and talkative. She felt like nothing as much as just cozying up and dozing in post-orgasmic bliss. 

“You did.” He frowned then said, half amused and half surprised, “You wanted a reason to walk away.”

Maybe she had...

“Don’t you? This could potentially be a really bad idea, Thomas. You do see that. Don’t you?” She turned her eyes towards the dark windows of his bedroom. “It would be easier if we… hadn’t been  _ compatible _ . Sexually. I mean.”

“I can’t believe you even thought that was a possibility.” He gave a small laugh. “Higgy!”

“Are you going to keep calling me that?” She was glad for any kind of possible topic changer.

“I thought you liked it,” he said, genuine astonishment in his voice. 

“I don’t really mind it, I just...”

“What should I use as a pet name then?” He teased, pulling her to him as he lay back down. “We already know you don’t like  _ Muffin  _ or  _ Cupcake _ .”

“I’m not edible and thus all food-related things are off the table-”

“You sure? I think you’re quite delectable,” he said and she was glad she wasn’t looking at him but rather resting her head on his shoulder, that way he couldn’t see her blush.

“That’s a big word, you learn it? On the back of a cereal box?” she managed.

“I’ll have you know I scored 1490 on my SAT exam,” he told her teasingly, running his hand along the underside of her left breast. “I got a near-perfect score on the vocabulary section.”

“That so?“ she said, wondering if 1500 was 100%? In that case, it was quite impressive. Then again, she knew he was smart. He was just reckless and brave at the same time, which sometimes made him come off as… well not. 

She was also pretty sure he sometimes dumbed himself down to let her explain things. Which she enjoyed. But then again, she liked when he knew and explained things too. Like photography. And medical terms. She should make an effort to let him do that more. Maybe. 

He smiled. “It doesn't matter.” 

“I think it does.” 

He ‘ _mmm_ ’ but said nothing to go along with it further. Clearly he didn't want to say more.

She bit the inside of her lip, decided to drop it for now, and put her head back down on his shoulder. “I like it when you call me Higgy. But I like Juliet too.”

“Not Jules? Ethan called you Jules...”

She shrugged. “Richard and Ian used to call me that too. Everyone back ho...in England. I became Juliet when I came here. I like Juliet.”

“I do too,” he said and she knew he meant more than her name.

She yawned and snuggled closer, enjoying the fact that frustrating, charming, brave, hopeless romantic Thomas Magnum liked her. Of course, she’d already known that but having someone tell you when you were wrapped in their arms was different. Sweeter somehow. Truer.

She wondered if it was more than that for him though. More than like? She was quite sure it was for her. Sure that he had been right. She might actually be in love with him. Then she wondered what this would all mean in the morning. How it would change their relationship. Thought about how bad it could end. How he’d said Ethan was wrong. That he wasn’t in love with her, but she with him. What their future might hold. If this would be the best or worst choice she’d ever made.

All those worries her lusty hormones had told to shut up, suddenly filling her mind and making her terrified even as she felt as happy, satisfied and even hopefully as she could remember ever feeling.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You haven’t seen nothing yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While we all know our wonderful idiots are amazing, stunning and lovable they don’t themself quite always see it that way. So we got both slightly insecure Higgy and self-deprecating Magnum, here for a bit, but mostly they're just being the normal bantering selves (I think...)
> 
> Also, I feel that Higgy should be the kind of person that has a very neat capsule wardrobe. But since she’s a TV character, she has to have a new fab outfit in basically every episode (#notcomplaining) so she might actually have a lot of clothes? Not really important but just a thought...
> 
> ((Folks!!! Why did no one tell me I'd misslabeled the last 3 chapters? 7 was called EIGHT and so on! (I got a good reason for this: there was a Magnum chapter in the middle that I decided to cut and thus I wrote a chapter that I never used but it got all the chapter nr/names thrown off!) Not cool guys, you need to tell me when I'm making a fool of myself!))

## TEN

She woke up before him and made a quick trip to the bathroom to try to tame her crazy bed-head and get rid of her sure-to-be delightfully smeared makeup. Noted that she had a very obvious hickey on her neck. Seeing as she was quite sure he’d have some nail marks on his back she supposed that was only fair. 

Still, it was a bit juvenile of him to give her a hickey… a little fun too, but she wouldn’t ever tell him she thought so.

After some looking she found a still wrapped spare toothbrush in a cabinet and squeezed the last of his toothpaste onto it. With that and a last quick splash of water on her face she decided that was the best she was going to do. She was just her. And right then she was without a trace of make-up and her hair going everywhere. But he'd seen her look way worse, so she tried to not worry about it.

The sun was just about to come up over the horizon as she slipped back into bed with him, trying to move as softly as possible. 

“Hey,” he said, apparently not asleep as she thought. 

“I didn’t mean to wake you,” she said as he turned on his side so they could lay facing each other.

“You didn’t,” he assured her. “I’ve been awake an hour or so.”

“And you just what? Watched me sleep?” She frowned, not sure how she felt about that. Then her thoughts went to the most likely reason he’d woken up. “You have a nightmare?” 

He nodded an affirmative.

And she felt that horrible foreboding feelings she always got when they talked about it, that she always tried to ignore by telling herself and him that they’d figure it out. 

“About the white SUV again?” 

“Yes.” He turned back over and looked up at the ceiling.

“Want to tell me about it?” 

“It's just a variation of me or you or TC or Rick somehow ending up dead because we're tracking down the SUV. Not sure talking about it will help,” he said, and while she supposed that was right, it didn't mean sharing might not help. A little at least.

“I’m just concerned.”

“Once we figure out who it is, they’ll stop,” he said, pulling her closer to him again. She wished she could be as sure as him. “I fell asleep last night, no problems though. That was nice.”

“You saying I tired you out?” she said, hoping that she’d somehow helped him sleep better. _Her_ , and not just the sex - which was always good for insomnia.

“I was the one who tired _you_ out if anything.”

Narrowing her eyes at him, she slid her leg across his body and then straddled him. “In your dreams.”

“Frequently,” he agreed, his eyes hungrily drinking her in while his hands slid to her hips. 

“Ohh hush,” she said and leaned down to kiss him, feeling herself blush. She wasn’t sure why the thought of him fantasizing about that made her both embarrassed and hot at the same time. 

* * *

“I can’t believe we’re...” she said sometime later. _...together?_

“What I can’t believe it took us this long,” he replied, a little distractedly, not quite seeming to be thinking of the same thing as her. Plus he was busy drawing a pattern on her back with one finger. For a while, she’d thought they were words and tried to decipher them, but then she'd realized the shapes were hearts. From fool-for-romance Thomas Magnum she should have expected nothing less.

“I meant...” What had she really meant? Why did she want to ask ‘what now?’ She’d never gone to bed with someone without firmly deciding, knowing, what they were to one another before.

But she wanted to know what this meant _._ Were they a _them_ now? That really was the first question wasn’t it? But she also didn’t want to ask. Because by asking she’d lose control of the situation. Seem insecure. Like it mattered. Which it obviously did. But she still couldn't do it.

“You know, there is a walk-in-closet here,” she said instead. “It’s empty almost though.” She'd noticed the other week when she'd gone looking for him when the door to it stood open.

“Yes?” 

“I have a lot of clothes. I thought since you have some extra space… maybe I could use it?” 

“Juliet Higgins?" His voice changed. Teasing but happy. "Are you asking to move in with me? After one night?”

Maybe that was crazy. But it wasn’t really one night, was it? It was more like three years. And she wouldn’t move all her stuff, of course. But she would bring the dress with all the frustrating buttons...

“Maybe.” She wanted to spend the next…very long time, sleeping next to him (amongst other things.) She might not be one to speak of emotions but she could be brave enough to admit she wanted to be close to him like this more. All the time. She just needed to make sure that was what he wanted too. This was the best way she could think to ask without asking directly. "Well, not exactly move in. Just put a few things here."

He smiled. “Yeah. Sure.”

She smiled too. 

Happiness and excitement flowing through her as she put her head back on his chest.

* * *

“You know, Ethan wasn’t wrong,” he said after a few long moments.

“About what?”

“Me being in love with you.” He said it so casually she couldn’t believe it. 

She used an elbow to prop herself up to be able to once more look at him, feeling a strange fluttering sensation in her chest. “You really are the hopeless romantic, aren’t you?”

“Hey! I thought you'd be happy you were right."

"I actually said you weren't. In love with me, I mean. This whole thing started because I was trying to prove him wrong," she said, feeling a little foolish but wanting to be honest.

"And ironically you ended up proving him right."

"You're not in love with me Magnum," she insisted. Because that was just too quick. Maybe she was in love with him but she'd been thinking about it for almost two weeks, evaluating. He hadn't. Or had he?

"Well, maybe not. You’re so confusing I can’t really be sure.” She gave him a playful shove and a raised eyebrow. He only added, “What! You are confusing!”

“How long?"

“How long what?”

"You say you're in love with me, how long ago did you realize?”

“Maybe since the day we met? I kind of knew when you agreed to be my partner, I think but I wasn't-”

“Wait!” She sat up, fully, crossing her legs, staring at him, shocked. “That was years ago! And when I agreed to be your partner you were with Abby! And why did you tell me to go out with Ethan if you-?”

“Because it wasn’t the right time. And I wanted...” He looked uncomfortable, unsure, distant all at once.

She ran her nails gently along his shoulder, to get his attention back. “What?”

“It’s not important.” He leaned up and kissed her. Tried to at least. 

But she wasn’t going to be distracted. “Why is it not important?”

“Come on Higgy- Juliet”

“Tell me!”

He looked exasperated but said,“I guess I wanted it to be your choice.” He moved away from her, sat up, and swung his legs over the side of the bed. 

“My choice?”

”I think I know the kind of future you want. Are planning for. That’s not me. 9-5, owning things, having a five-year plan… someone like Ethan, he plays in a different league and I just-”

“Seriously? What is it with men?” Before he could answer that she’d slid out of the bed and begun searching for her clothes. “Honestly!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Magnum said, interested again, pulling the sheet with him off the bed as he stood. “Did Ethan say something about me? Us?”

“I’m not so shallow as you both seem to think me,” she said, after stepping into her dress. “I don’t want some Stepford life!”

First Ethan had said she and Magnum weren’t in the same league - or at least that couldn’t offer her what she wanted - and now, here Magnum himself was, doing the same thing. _Different leagues…_

“I’m not exactly Mrs. Traditional am I? I used to be a bloody spy Thomas!” She wasn’t sure why this one thing had upset her so much. 

Maybe it was… the fact that he’d decided something, what was best for both of them, without consulting her. Waiting for her to make a choice without knowing there was a choice! 

For years! Well, one year at least.

What if she hadn’t figured it out? Hadn’t decided to conduct her little ‘experiment’? What then? He’d just have never told her he had feelings for her?

“I just meant...” he said, not seeming sure what he actually did mean. “I just want you to decide that being with me isn’t giving up something you want.”

“Okay.” She stopped and nodded. Closed her eyes. How could she explain this whole thing to him without making a mess of it? She wasn’t even sure she could explain it to herself.

“I love you,” he said slowly. 

She had to catch her breath at that. Because only two people in her whole life had said those words to her and made her believe them. Her mother and Richard. Now Thomas made three. 

“But I’m not sure that matters that much,” he continued, seemingly unaware of the slight shock his words had caused her. “That’s why I never… I didn’t feel like it really changed anything.”

It felt like it changed things for her. To be a person, _the_ person, he loved. 

“Thomas.” She put a hand back on his shoulder. “I broke up with Ethan. My perfect doctor boyfriend. Long before that, I decided to be your partner, in your financial-disaster of a business. I’m here. Because I want to be.”

“What about in the future? Ethan could-”

“How about we deal with it as it comes? And can we please stop talking about Ethan!”

“But realistically he is probably a better choice. What if Robin asks us to leave?” he said, making her feel completely confused. Because the likeliness of that happening seemed almost nill. “We wouldn’t have anywhere to live, no car, no offices and we’d never have anything like this again-”

“Do we need fancy cars or a beach view to be happy? I don't think we do." 

“No? But...” he started, but her answer seemed to have surprised him. Which was maybe a little bit insulting. But it also made her realize he probably had been thinking about this, them, and the possible problems, pitfalls, a lot. 

Which was kind of nice.

Seeing as her biggest worried about their relationship had been him often not wanting to think or plan. But clearly, he was thinking, planning...even if it was just thinking about how he didn’t want to do it and how that might be a problem. That was at least a start.

"Honestly, I’m not worried about it."

"You're not?"

“Together we’ve taken on serial killers, terrorists and drug dealers. Survived plane crashes, love tours and swimming across the Molokai channel. We’ve saved countless people and put lots of bad guys away,” she said seriously but with a bit of a smile. Because their lives were kind of crazy. “Even though I will admit I am rather crossed with you for failing to mention you’ve been in love with me for over a year, one can’t deny we make one heck of a team. I'm sure we'll figure this out. As long as we continue to communicate.”

“Okay,” he said, seeming to feel better. Nodding, he then added teasingly,“Seeing as you’ve been in love with me for almost as long, I don’t see how that’s really my fault though!”

“I have not!”

“Oh come on! You so have!” He smiled. “You gave me such looks and who told me about the tattoo knowing I was going to be fantasizing about it every time-”

“You’re completely delusional,” she said, even though she had no good explanation why she had really told him about the tattoo. Other than to make sure he was thinking about places on her body he wasn’t regularly privy to seeing.

“I’m not.” He reached for her hand. “You know it’s true. You were mine long before last night.”

“Yours? You said that… before too. But I’m not yours… I’m not a car or coffee mug. I can’t be owned, I can’t _belong_ to someone.” It was meant to be a statement of independence. Yet it came out almost a little sad.

“You sure?” he asked, tilting her chin up. “I think you do. It would be strange for me to belong to you if you didn’t belong to me.”

“There you go again...” she said, softly, trying to be annoyed but not quite managing it. Because as corny as it was, she rather liked the idea of him being hers. And maybe of being his in return. “...being a hopeless romantic.”

“You haven’t seen nothing yet,” he promised and then he kissed her.

**.**

**.**

**.**

**END**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit sudden of an end? Maybe. I might have an epilogue for this but IDK, it's not flowing well. (Mostly bc I had this plan for making this long(er) and dealing with the White SUV plot my way but I'm not sure this is the story for that!) Still I feel like this is a pretty okay ending as is...


End file.
